WATSONVILLE — A woman who says she was raped at a drug-treatment center has sued Narconon of Northern California and its parent company, Narconon International, alleging she was assaulted by a staff member while undergoing treatment in November 2003. The suit alleges that when notified of the assault, staff at the Watsonville treatment center failed to respond in an appropriate manner and took the unidentified, out-of-state woman out of treatment. The Sentinel is not identifying the plaintiff because of the nature ...

State schools chief Jack O'Connell has asked a research group known for its rigorous reviews of health curriculum to spend three months evaluating the Narconon anti-drug program, whose classroom instruction has been linked to the Church of Scientology. At a press conference today in East Los Angeles, O'Connell will announce that the California Healthy Kids Resource Center, a public agency in Hayward, will look at what Narconon is teaching thousands of students in its hourlong presentations at dozens of schools each ...

Los Angeles school officials are warning campuses not to use a drug prevention program linked to the Church of Scientology while California's schools chief has ordered an investigation to determine whether the anti-drug presentations are scientifically sound and free from the religion's influence. The target of the district and state actions is Narconon, a drug prevention and rehabilitation program that bases its ideas partly on the research and controversial teachings of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. Narconon has conducted educational assemblies ...

Supporters of an anti-drug program with ties to the Church of Scientology addressed the San Francisco Board of Education on Tuesday night in attempt to show the value of keeping the program intact in the city's public schools. Narconon Drug Prevention and Education, created by the late Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, has presented anti-drug lectures in San Francisco's public schools for 13 years. But after stories in The Chronicle raised questions about the science behind the teachings and the presence ...

School district officials in Los Angeles have ordered a review of an anti-drug program whose teachings are linked with the Church of Scientology and are warning teachers that its instruction "is not based on science." Los Angeles is the second district in the state to scrutinize Narconon Drug Prevention and Education, which reaches thousands of students in at least 20 California districts and has provided lectures in schools across the country for two decades. Earlier this month, San Francisco schools Superintendent ...

Four of the 25 cities selected by federal Drug Czar John Walters as focal points for a national campaign to reduce demand for and abuse of drugs in the United States are in California. According to a chart on illicit drug use among the 25 cities nationwide (www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov), San Francisco had the second highest rate of drug-related emergency-room admissions (8,575) and drug-related arrests (14,351). But one does not need to look at a chart. Walking down the street, stepping over homeless ...

THE CONSEQUENCES of illicit drugs are so dangerous and well- documented it's unnecessary – perhaps even foolish – to embellish on the inevitable outcomes for those reckless enough to abuse them. Drugs can cause immense physical, mental and emotional damage for users, and immeasurable suffering for families and friends, too. Clearly, the best defense against substance abuse is education and examples to illustrate the personal devastation. That's why the uproar over Narconon Drug Prevention and Education, the popular anti-drug program that ...

California's top educator said Wednesday that he has ordered the state Department of Education to investigate an antidrug program used by schools around the state whose teachings have been linked with the Church of Scientology. State schools Superintendent Jack O'Connell said the investigation could lead to an order barring schools from using the program, called Narconon Drug Prevention and Education. The popular program, based in Hollywood, has provided antidrug instruction in schools around the country for more than two decades. Narconon ...

Narconon responds Editor – Your article on the Narconon drug rehabilitation and prevention program correctly describes certain components of this mainstream social-educational model ("Scientology linked to public schools," June 9). However, your interpretation and oversimplification of the science behind this program does addiction medicine a disservice. I was asked to be Narconon International Science Advisory Board medical director as a result of having personally treated thousands of people with the Hubbard body detoxification protocol. Literally thousands of enrolling Narconon clients have ...

Pseudoscience and misinformation plague many efforts to keep young people off drugs. These errors destroy our credibility with teens and sabotage drug-abuse prevention immensely. As Nanette Asimov documented in The Chronicle ("What Narconon tells students," June 9) our children hear outrageous ideas as early as the third grade. My personal favorite: Drugs will store in your fat cells forever but niacin and saunas will release their remnants as colored ooze. Programs that rely on lies such as these make me very ...

A popular anti-drug program with ties to the Church of Scientology will be ousted after 13 years in the San Francisco schools unless it agrees to stop teaching what the district calls inaccurate and misleading information, Superintendent Arlene Ackerman said Wednesday. The district's ultimatum means that Narconon Drug Prevention & Education has until June 24 to revise parts of its curriculum, said Ackerman, whose health education staff no longer wants the program to make sweeping generalizations about all drugs or claim ...

As early as the third grade, students in S.F. and elsewhere are subtly introduced to church's concepts via anti-drug teachings A popular anti-drug program provided free to schools in San Francisco and elsewhere teaches concepts straight out of the Church of Scientology, including medical theories that some addiction experts described as "irresponsible" and "pseudoscience." As a result, students are being introduced to somebeliefs and methods of Scientology without their knowledge. Anyone listening to a classroom talk by Narconon Drug Prevention & ...

Narconon's school program sends students a strong anti-drug message about alcohol, tobacco and marijuana in grades three to 12 and about harder drugs in the upper grades. The program's instructors tell kids that drugs are poison. But here are some other things they tell kids about addiction, which the medical experts interviewed by The Chronicle rejected as not scientifically based: – Drugs – including ecstasy, LSD and marijuana – accumulate indefinitely in body fat, where they cause recurring drug cravings for ...

For a second or so the needle proceeds smoothly along the dial. I watch its progress while clutching two can-shaped metal devices, wired to the small machine housing the dial. Suddenly, the needle jerks violently. 'What was that?' asks Janet Laveau, head of the UK Office of Special Affairs, the Church of Scientology's PR machine. I'm disturbed and temporarily impressed - the needle jumped just as I was thinking of a friend who is seriously depressed. How could the machine 'know' ...

Fears have been sparked about the intentions of an anti-drugs talk in Markbeech after it turned out to be led by people with links to a controversial group. Geraldine Ormond, the organiser of the hour-long lecture last week, admitted she would not have got involved if she had known the main speaker was linked to the Church of Scientology. However, she said the talk did not peddle the group's beliefs and only one leaflet which was handed out made reference to ...

A DRUG counselling group linked to the controversial Church of Scientology has been banned from Edinburgh University's student union. The organisation called Narconon put up posters about its services on Edinburgh Student Association (EUSA) notice boards without permission. Now union officials have pulled the posters down and outlawed any further adverts being displayed. They are concerned Narconon may be used to recruit new members for Scientology, which has often targeted students in the Capital. The Narconon posters contain no references to ...

I am relieved to see that others are also acknowledging what I've known since I first started using drugs 26 years ago. I haven't used illicit drugs for 19 years, but I still regret using any, especially pot. Drugs are the strongest undertow in the world. In the late summer of 1999, I decided to do something about the tides of young people flowing into the Downtown Eastside looking for dope. I saw them getting younger and younger but looking older ...

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Oklahoma City — Normally, resolutions honoring this or that group, person or event fly through the Legislature with nary a ripple of controversy. However, those measures do not usually involve substance-abuse treatment facilities operated by the Church of Scientology. Scientology teaches that human beings are immortal spiritual beings with unlimited capabilities, and their salvation depends on themselves and their attainment of brotherhood with the universe. Founded by author L. Ron Hubbard, it teaches adherents to follow a series of principles to ...

Recent articles disturb an active Scientologist There are two points I would like to state about your recent articles on Scientology missions and the Scientologist landlord. I have been active in Scientology since 1969. I have lived in Clearwater since 1989. I have worked in the church from 1971 to 1981, as well as having worked with (Scientology founder) L. Ron Hubbard on a few occasions. I feel I have enough background to understand people's responses to these articles. 1) Scientologists ...

Re: Detox center seeks acceptance, story, March 30. Narconon, a Scientology drug treatment program, wants taxpayers' dollars by having the local court system order people into the program at a cost of $7,500 per client. The article goes on to state that the "political elite" - such as Clearwater Mayor Brian Aungst, Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judges Linda Allan and Linda Babb (how can judges endorse a $7,500-per-client religious program?) and County Commissioner Susan Latvala - are impressed, and Pinellas Public Defender Robert ...

Narconon, a drug treatment program with Scientology backing, now wants taxpayer assistance. CLEARWATER – At Tampa Bay's newest alternative to mainstream drug treatment, the license issued by the state hangs next to commendations from the Church of Scientology. Narconon, a controversial drug treatment program based on techniques developed by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, has opened its first Florida facility in Clearwater in a commercial park off U.S. 19. Past the meticulously clean lobby are classrooms where recovering addicts take a ...

A Church of Scientology advert claiming that its programmes had "salvaged" 250,000 people from drug abuse has been censured by the Advertising Standards Authority as unproved, following a complaint by the Church of England. The ruling related to a poster coinciding with a campaign run two years ago by the church. In effect it claimed that the church had saved all those who had completed its drug programmes. It did not mention that its definition of drug use included an occasional ...

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A drug and alcohol rehabilitation center is set to open at the end of January in Pennfield Township.

Marmora — Before a town hall packed with close to 125 people, council here unanimously denied a rezoning application that would allow a former motel to house a drug treatment centre. The move followed a special rezoning hearing Monday night, called to allow those opposed and in favour of allowing Narconon to legally continue in the former Treelawny Hotel. Narconon is a drug rehabilitation program with close ties to the Church of Scientology and utilizes the methods of Scientology founder L. ...